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The Glossary
Shangri-la Travel Guide
In spite having a name borrowed from a cult American book, movie, and five-star hotel chain, Shangri-la is still more popularly called by its old name, Zhongdian, and is still sparsely visited due to its isolation at the boondocks of Diqing Tibetan Prefecture in Yunnan. A town Split between Tibetans and the Han Chinese, Shangri-la takes pride of its World Heritage-listed Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan, as well as its Old Town, mountains, and hot springs that may convey different levels of excitement for travelers keen for variety.
Hundreds of shops have sprung up selling counterfeits and fake animal furs in Shangri-la's Old Town, as a result of the government's ploy to hype up the place as the next Dali or Lijiang. Still, the Old Town has rustic backstreets for wandering and a central square for night dancing with the locals. Oftentimes, the Tibetan residents open their houses to strangers, usually for a chat or a casual lunch.
Horses can also be rented to arrive in style at Hutiaoxia Town or Tiger Leaping Gorge Town, a hiking route south of the famous Tiger Leaping Gorge. Hutiaoxia has lots of backpacker motels, cafés, restaurants, taxi terminals, and other facilities that make it a fine resting place for hikers aiming for the Upper Tiger Leaping Gorge.
Bikes can also be hired to pass inside the hallways of Songzalin Monastery or the riverbanks and mountainous outlines of Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan, a protected area and a UNESCO World Heritage Site for probably being the Earth's most biologically diverse temperate region with a variety of climates and topography—from karst, to gorges, and to icy peaks, since the site is a collision point of tectonic plates. The area covers parts of the Hengduan Mountains and the Mekong, Yangtze, and Salween Rivers. It is home to about 10,000 different flora and fauna, including 173 types of animals and 417 kinds of birds, of which more than a hundred are endemic.
Known in English as Blue Moon Valley, Shika Mountain also offers outdoor adventure via its ski resort that can be entered through T-bars and chair lifts. After calling it a day, travelers usually head for a dip at Xiagei or the more expensive Tianshenqiao hot springs.
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